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China's Bureau of Medical Administration has said that nearly 60,000 people with Covid-19 have died in China's hospitals from Dec. 8, 2022 to Jan. 12, 2023.

Average age of death at 80

According to Reuters, the number was revealed at a media briefing given by the bureau's head, Jiao Yahui.

The Bureau of Medical Administration is under China's National Health Commission.

In about a month, China encountered 5,503 deaths from respiratory failures due to Covid-19 infections.

Another 54,435 deaths resulted from a Covid-19 infection and other underlying conditions, such as cardiovascular disease or cancer.

The Paper, a publication from China, reported that the average age of death was 80.3 years old, while 90.1 per cent of the fatalities were over the age of 65.

It also revealed that the number of deaths among the elderly was exacerbated by the onset of winter, causing more incidents health conditions such as cardiovascular disease.

Jiao added that a new reporting platform for medical institutions to report deaths was put into place on Dec. 31 in order to better organise, collect, and analyse death reports.

Data accuracy

These new numbers comes as China switched from its official zero-Covid stance, but was still reporting relatively low numbers.

As late as Dec. 18, 2022, it had only reported two additional Covid-19 deaths.

Western media outlets have been reporting on indicators that implied a larger than reported number of deaths, with the Washington Post using satellite imagery to point to increasing crematorium activity.

On Jan. 13, Nikkei noted that China's foreign ministry had pushed back on the World Health Organization's doubt about the accuracy of China's Covid-19 data.

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Top image via Getty